


the edges of the ideal demographic

by Murf1307



Series: blue skies forever [2]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Bechdel Test Pass, Bisexuality, F/M, Female Friendship, Heterosexual flirting, Trans Alex Summers, Trans Angel Salvadore, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 03:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15234000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murf1307/pseuds/Murf1307
Summary: Alex meets the rest of the team and makes her first female friends.  Raven learns the word "bisexual."  Armando is painfully charming.





	the edges of the ideal demographic

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so if it's not clear, Alex and Angel are trans girls and Erik's a trans guy. Charles is kind of clueless and outed Alex and Erik to each other, but I haven't decided if Erik and Angel know each other's status.
> 
> Also, I haven't quite decided yet what happens during Shaw's attack on the compound. We'll see.

Alex doesn't like any of this one bit.  Working for the government with  _ her _ arrest record?  Yeah, right. And then there's the fact that she's a fucking transsexual, that's likely to be an issue with these people.

Darwin helps, though.  His hand in hers, his easy acceptance of everything, his smile…

Well, best not to think about it  _ too  _ much.  

They make it to the CIA compound, and she's not doing great.  She's tense, wound up despite Darwin holding her hand. She thinks she might trust him, and she trusts Erik, in his way, but everyone else is a potential threat.  Well, except Charles, who just has no concept of discretion. He'd be a threat on accident.

They park.  Darwin smiles at her, squeezes her hand before letting go so he can get out of the car, and she feels the loss acutely.

Maybe it's because he's the first man who's ever treated her so kindly.  Part of her wants to reach for him again, once she's out of the cab, but she doesn't.  They're in  _ Virginia _ , and even if she passes enough to be taken for a woman, that might still be illegal.

Suddenly, she misses New York.

Darwin stands at her shoulder, though, and she at his, as they walk toward the main building of the complex.  They'll get their bags inside later, Charles assured them a few miles back.

In the lobby, a woman is waiting.  Average height, auburn hair, and of course she's beautiful.

“Well, you're late,” she teases Charles.  She turns her attention to Alex and Darwin.  “I'm Agent MacTaggert; I'll be your liaision with the Agency while you're here.”

She extends her hand, and Darwin shakes it. “I'm Darwin.”

Alex takes a deep breath.  “And I'm Alex. We, uh, we were told there are...others, here?”

“Yes, they'd be in one of the rec rooms — except Dr. McCoy, he's likely in the hangar working.” Agent MacTaggert smiles at her.  “But I can introduce the two of you to Angel and Raven, certainly. Follow me.”

They do, and she leads them to a rec room containing two girls about their age, a fish tank, and a pinball machine.

The blonde — gorgeous, curvy, delicate in ways Alex will never be no matter how many surgeries she gets or hormones she takes — notices them first.  “Hi!” she calls over, standing up and walking over. “I'm Raven.”

Charles's sister.  Of course.

“I'm Darwin.  Pleasure to meet you.” Darwin smiles, extending his hand.  

She shakes it with a smile, then turns expectantly to Alex.

“I'm Alex,” Alex introduces herself.  “Uh, Charles mentioned you were his sister.”  _ Raven Xavier  _ sounds like a way-weird name, though Alex isn't going to say it out loud.

“Adopted, but yeah.” Raven grins.  “It's great to get another girl.”

Alex relaxes just a little.

The other girl, an equally gorgeous black girl with long, shiny black hair, is watching them.  She must be Angel, then. After a moment, she gets up and approaches them.

“I'm Angel,” she says, taking Darwin's hand when he offers it.

“Well!” Charles says, after a moment, “Erik and I must be off again.  I'm sure you'll all do just fine.”

Alex twists around to meet Erik's eyes.  She doesn't like the idea of being here without him — because  _ he  _ understands her.  He knows what she needs, and he's the kind of man who  _ gets  _ what he wants.

He meets her eyes, nodding slightly.

She exhales and turns back to the group.

“You're not even staying for dinner?” Agent MacTaggert asks, surprised.

“No,” Charles says, sounding genuinely sorry.  “We will have to do some searching when it comes to the next mutant — he moves around a fair bit, from what I can tell.”

Erik nods, confirming Charles's explanation.

Alex doesn't like this, but she'll deal.  She always manages.

And, well.  Darwin's sticking around, so there is that.  She can hold on to that, maybe.

Just for a little while.

 

* * *

 

Hank McCoy is exactly the kind of man she  _ hates _ .  His mutation is physical, sure, but ultimately just as easily hidden as her own.

That said, he has the  _ option _ of normalcy, and he seems to cling to it more fiercely than anything.  Even though Hank's got weird feet, that's not anything worse than “freak-show” weird — a kind of weird that can get by in the world.

She knows she's a freak, and she can't hide it anymore.  Between the bomb in her too-flat chest and the fact that girls like her  _ never _ get to just “get by,” she has to live in the world as herself.  And it pisses her off to see a man who hardly needs to hide, hide so fiercely.  It reeks of a useless self-loathing, and she hates him a little for it.

His  _ weird feet _ won't keep him from getting a job, or buying a house, or getting married, after all.

Anyway, she's only even thinking about Hank because Raven's so ridiculously  _ into  _ the guy.  And since Raven wants them all — the girls — to stick together, Angel and Alex are stuck listening to her.

Angel gives Alex a commiserating look when Raven launches into another round of “but his feet are so  _ beautiful _ , and I wish he'd see that.”

“You can't make somebody love themselves,” Alex eventually interjects.  “That shit's up to them, not you.” She thinks Raven could do better, frankly, than a guy who hates himself so much.  “I'm gonna get another Coke.”

She gets up and heads for the rec room's bar — with its fully stocked refrigerator full of soda pop, water, and seltzer — and tries to decide what she wants.

She's still looking when Angel slides up beside her. “So.  Alex, huh?”

Alex blinks, stiffening a little.  “Whaddya mean?”

“Not a lot of girls go by that.” Angel's tone is careful, but Alex's gut still freezes: she's been made.

“Yeah, well, not a lotta girls are like me.”

Angel nods.  “Yeah. I mean, where I'm from, not a lot of girls go by  _ Angel _ ,” she adds, just as carefully, but she says her name a little differently, like it came out of Spanish.  “So I might know what you mean.”

Alex's eyes widen.  Angel's  _ gorgeous.   _ “Shit, really?”

“Yeah.  Been on hormones for a while.  Line of work I was in, I had the money for that.” She shrugs a little.  “What about you?”

“No money, then jail,” she replies, shrugging.  “Charles paid for all this.”

Angel makes a dubious noise.

“Yeah, I know,” Alex agrees.  “But you do what you gotta.”

She's a little less tense now, since she's not alone.  She wonders if Erik and Angel know about each other, or what, but she's glad there's a girl like her here, at least.

“Yeah,” Angel agrees, her voice a little tight.  “We do.”

 

* * *

 

“So you play pinball, huh?” Darwin asks her, one night, when he finds her in the rec room after everyone else has turned in for the night.

She grins a little.  “Yeah. I'm pretty good, I guess.”

He chuckles and joins her at the machine.  “Can I watch?” he asks, and she thinks he might be  _ flirting  _ with her.

“Knock yourself out,” she says, clamping down on the hope before it can take hold.  He's just a nice guy. It isn't going to mean anything. He's not  _ interested  _ in her.

She starts the game, working the flipper switches and trying not to think about his eyes on her.

The numbers climb, and she starts to relax.  It's easy to lose herself in the topography of the table, in the bounce of the ball.  She doesn't understand it, but she's always had a knack for angles and stuff like that.  Good aim, maybe — a side effect of her powers.

When the game's over, Darwin gently puts his hand out, touching the small of her back.  He looks like he's trying hard to work something out.

It takes everything she has not to shiver.

“You okay?” Darwin asks, after a moment.  “Sorry, I keep meaning to ask, but...there's always  _ people  _ around.”

She blushes a little. “Yeah, I'm cool,” she says.  “What about you?”

This is, after all, Virginia.

“I'm fine,” he says, and his hand still hasn't moved from the small of her back.  His thumb, in fact, traces a circle there, and shit, she thinks she could die from wanting him.  “Don't worry about me, all right?”

She shifts a little into his space.  “Somebody oughtta,” she insists, softly.

He chuckles, his hand shifting around until he's got his arm around her waist.  It feels dangerous and transgressive, especially here. “You really are something,” he says, a little outright wonder in his voice.

She hopes, deep in her heart, that it's something good.

 

* * *

 

“So, you and Darwin, huh?” Raven asks, smirking.  

“Aw, shuddup,” Alex asks, flushing brightly.  “It's not like that. He's just...nice.” He doesn't treat her the way men who want to fuck her treat her, and that, she's decided, means he must just want to be friends.

Angel laughs.  “When a man looks at you like that, he's definitely interested, Alex.”

“Nah,” she rebuts.  “I know what guys are like when they want me.” She rolls her shoulders.  “We're just getting to be friends, that's all.”

Raven grins a little.  “I still think you'd be a cute couple.  He's so sweet to you.”

“He is,” Angel agrees.  “And it's like he can't stop looking at you whenever you're in the room.  He's not my type, but jeez, if he was, I'd be so jealous.”

Alex blushes.  “Oh yeah? What is your type, then?”

“Girls,” she admits, shrugging.  “Guys have never done it for me, and girls are amazing.”

Raven gawps a little at Angel.  “You're a lesbian?”

Alex winces, and Angel's eyes narrow.  “Yeah. You got a problem with that?” She sounds ready to deck Raven if she does, and honestly, Alex would back her up if she did, over something like that.

“No, no — it's just.  I've never…” She takes a deep breath.  “I've never met another girl who likes girls, before.”

“Oh, shit,” Alex says.  “I never woulda guessed, for the record.”

Raven laughs, just a tiny bit.  “Yeah, I guess you wouldn't, given how much I talk about Hank.” She's a little flushed.  “But I do like girls, too. I don't know — is there a word for that?”

“Bisexual, I think?” Alex shrugs.  “When I was living up in New York, I think I heard some people call it that.”

Raven nods.  “Bisexual. I...I like it.” She grins a little.

“Good,” Angel says.  “Now, if only we had more girls to talk about besides Agent Auburn and little miss Marilyn over here,” she says teasingly, “then we'd really be in business.”

Alex laughs.  “Marilyn, really?  I mean, sure, I'm blonde, but somehow I think that's all we have in common.”

Raven hums a little.  “I don't know, I think you could totally pull off a white halter dress.” She smirks a little.  “When we hit the other side of this, I'll definitely give you one of mine.”

“Thanks,” Alex says, blushing just a little.

She's never had girl friends before, but here, now, she can't imagine it getting any better than this.

 

* * *

 

Sean Cassidy has an extremely faint Irish accent and a devil-may-care attitude when he arrives at the compound a few days later.  Alex is sure that if she wasn't already so interested in Darwin, she would  _ absolutely  _ be interested in him.

“Nice to meet you,” he says, when he shakes her hand.  “Didn't expect to see so many girls.”

“We're even,” Raven interjects.  “Three girls and three guys.”

Sean nods.  “Point taken.” He rolls his shoulders.  “So, what do we know so far about why we're here?”

Raven takes a deep breath.  “I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think we might be in this to save the world from nuclear war.”

“So, no pressure, huh?”

 

* * *

 

“Right, because your  _ feet  _ are the reason people don't like you,” she says to Hank one evening, as the whole group is gathered in the rec room.  

“Alex!  What the hell?” Raven responds, seemingly surprised to discover that Alex really doesn’t like Hank very much.  She shifts a little closer to Hank on the couch, seemingly in case she needs to comfort him.

Alex remains unimpressed.

“Well, Alex, what’s your gift?” Darwin asks.  They’re on the same couch, Darwin’s arm thrown over the back of it.  If she were to sit with her back against the couch, he’d be able to put his fingers in her hair.  “What can you do?”

She doesn’t want to show them.  “It’s...kind of dangerous,” she says, carefully.  “Can’t do it in here.”

“Can you do it out there?” Darwin asks her,  gesturing out the window Sean broke a minute ago.  The hot summer night air is eeking into the air-conditioned room, and she considers the question.

She could.  Technically, she could.  But it would be risky.

“I don’t know,” she says.

“Aw, c’mon, Alex,” Raven says, her mood shifting again, turning supportive.

“Alex, Alex, Alex,” Sean starts chanting, and the others join in.  

She blushes and stands up, her hands smoothing her blue skirt.  “Okay, but, stay back. It's not safe.”

Darwin smiles at her, encouraging, and she, uneasily, smiles back.

She steps outside, moving away from the window opening.  The others lean out as a group to look at her.

“Get back,” she says.  When they don't, she repeats herself a little more emphatically.  “ _ Get back!” _

When they do, she starts rolling her hips in a circle, like she's got a hula hoop going.  After a moment or two, she feels the energy expand in her chest and manifest as rings of red-orange light.

The energy rings leave gouges in the walls and slice the bronze statue in the courtyard cleanly in half.

A moment of silence, and then the others break into raucous applause and cheers, even though she can't imagine feeling that excitement about her powers herself.  She smiles, a little nervous, at them.

Angel meets her eyes first with a nod, and Alex feels a little more at ease.

 

* * *

 

The next night, Charles and Erik leave with Agent MacTaggert to chase Shaw down in Russia.


End file.
